Aligarh (UP), Apr 30 (PTI) Promising air-conditioners in common hostel areas, washing machines for residents battling the heat, and tea “at least thrice a day” because it is the campus’s “official beverage”, a Nigerian student’s satirical recreation of a campus poll speech at Aligarh Muslim University has struck a nostalgic chord among its community.
The humorous Hindustani speech, delivered by Ayyooba Godswill, a Chemical Engineering student, during a cultural and literary festival at a residential hall earlier this week, has since circulated widely on social media, drawing attention beyond the campus.
Through exaggerated “poll promises”, Godswill recreated the style of campaign speeches once common during students’ union elections at AMU — a tradition many alumni say reflected the institution’s rich culture of debate, wit and oratory.
During the Open University Cultural and Literary Fest ‘Farozaan’ held at Nadeem Tarin Hall, the foreign student performed a mock student poll speech in Hindustani, promising residents that if he were to become hall secretary, he would ensure air-conditioners for hostellers, washing machines on every floor, tea thrice a day, a swimming pool, and even a metro rail service “since the college is far away from NT”.
According to AMU historian Rahat Abrar, the performance resonated deeply because it evoked “an aura of the institution which is now vanishing”.
“The nostalgia is two-fold, it reminds people of a time when satire and public speaking were integral to campus life, and when personalities like Saadat Hasan Manto, Javed Akhtar and Naseeruddin Shah honed their skills here,” Abrar told PTI.
In his act, Godswill mimicked the rhetorical flourish and theatrical style that once defined AMU’s students’ union elections — contests that were largely centred on campus life, social activities and student welfare rather than mainstream political alignments.
His tongue-in-cheek assurances – including improved hostel amenities and unlimited tea ‘ drew laughter and applause, even as they mirrored the irony of campaign culture in a contemporary context.
Abrar noted that the response also reflects a sense of loss, as AMU has not held students’ union elections for nearly a decade. “Even when elections were held in recent years, they were no longer what they used to be, where oratory made you stand out, not muscle power,” he said.
Beyond the satire, the episode has also drawn attention to another shift in the university’s character, the decline in the number of foreign students, once a defining feature of AMU’s cosmopolitan environment.
“In the 1950s to the 1980s, AMU attracted some of the brightest students from Africa, Iran, Thailand and other parts of the developing world. They actively participated in campus life and carried back with them a part of India,” Abrar said.
Foreign students were once deeply involved in students’ union activities, with figures like Mohammad Ameen Bulbulia even serving as union president in 1953.
AMU also served as a cultural and diplomatic hub, with global leaders such as Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Shah of Iran visiting the campus.
Today, however, the number of foreign students has dwindled significantly.
According to Naved Khan, Director of Foreign Students at AMU, the university currently has around 160 foreign students, mostly from Bangladesh and Afghanistan ‘ roughly a tenth of its strength in the 1960s.
Khan said efforts are underway to revive this aspect of AMU’s identity, including plans for a “single-window” admission system for international students and dedicated hostel facilities from the next academic session.
For many in the AMU fraternity, Godswill’s brief but spirited performance served as both entertainment and a reminder of a vibrant campus tradition that continues to echo, even as it fades. PTI COR KIS NB NB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.